FNCA 2003 Project Leaders Meeting for Public Information (PI) on Nuclear
Energy was held from Nov. 4 to 6, 2003 in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City,
Viet Nam.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Viet Nam and the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan jointly
hosted the meeting in cooperation with the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission
(VAEC) and Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, INC (JAIF).

On the first day (Nov.4), Opening Ceremony of PI PLs Meeting and SESSION1
(Presentation of Country Reports) were conducted.

Besides the PLs Meeting, two seminars, i.e. "Seminar on Public Information
Strategies for Developing Nuclear Power" (Nov. 5) and "Seminar
on Application of Radiation Technology in Industry" (Nov. 6) were
held at Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City respectively. And the conclusion of
the session Including Round Table Discussion for wrap-up was held on Nov.
6. Because Viet Nam actively develops nuclear power development program
aiming construction of its first nuclear power plant in mid-2010, the PLs
Meeting attracted a great deal of mass media in the country.

Highlight of the PLs MeetingAt the sessions of the PLs Meeting, current status on nuclear public Information
are reported and discussed;

#

Previous and Current Planned Activities and Efforts made to Promote Nuclear
PI in each country

#

Results and Analysis of the "Joint Survey of Understanding and Interest
in Radiation among High School Students in FNCA Countries".

#

Nuclear energy PI strategy and others

Seminar on Public Information Strategies for Developing Nuclear Power

Speakers from Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia made presentations on how
to improve Public Information on nuclear energy. Dr. Sueo Machi, FNCA Coordinator
also delivered a talk on "Roles on Nuclear Power for Sustainable Development".
Dr. Machi emphasized that Nuclear Energy is essential for every country
to have sustainable development without environmental problems.

Ms. Junko Ogawa of The Japan Atomic Power Company from Japan presented
"Topical Events of Communication for Nuclear Issues in Japan".

Mr. Shen Tian of CAEA from China made a presentation entitled "Practice
on Construction of Public Information of Nuclear in China".

Mr. John-Keuk Chung of KAERI from Korea made a presentation entitled "Nuclear
Power Program and Public Information".

Mr. Arianto Iskandar of BATAN from Indonesia made a presentation entitled
"The Experience and Know-How of Indonesia in Planning to Introduce
Nuclear Power".

On November 4 and 5, the Viet Nam Television interviewed Dr. Machi regarding
FNCA activities and it broadcasted the Seminar. News about the seminar
were also broadcasted by radio stations and were reported in newspapers.

Seminar on Application of Radiation Technology in Industry

At the Seminar, Dr. Machi made a presentation entitled "World Perspective
of Radiation Processing Application". Dr. Tran Khac An of Director
of Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology in Viet Nam
presented "Current Status and Future Trend of Radiation Processing
Application in Viet Nam". Mr. Mohd Rosli Muda of MINT from Malaysia
made a presentation entitled "Successful Development of Radiation
Processing Application in Malaysia".

Interview of Dr. Machi, FNCA
Coordinator of Japan, on the TV
program of Viet Nam TV

Presentation of Malaysia:"Successful Development of Radiation Processing Application in Malaysia"

SESSION 6:Round Table Discussion for Wrap-up

Drafting Minutes

Wrap-up: Adoption of the Minutes

Closing Remarks

Minutes on FNCA 2003 Project Leaders Meeting
For Public Information on Nuclear Energy

November 4 - 6, 2003
Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

FNCA 2003 Project Leaders Meeting for Public Information (PI) on Nuclear Energy was held from November 4 to 6, 2003 in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan jointly hosted the meeting in cooperation with the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission (VAEC) and Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, INC (JAIF).

The Meeting was officially opened by Mr. Thach Can, Director General for International Cooperation of MOST, Viet Nam and Ms. Kuroyanagi of MEXT, Japan who delivered the welcoming remarks.

The Reception on November 4, 2003 was sponsored by VAEC and MEXT.

The Opening Session and the country reports were conducted on the first day. Two seminars were held. The seminar on Public Information Strategies for Developing Nuclear Power was held in Ha Noi on November 5 with more than 150 participants. The seminar on Application of Radiation Technology in Industry was held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 6 with more than 60 participants, including a lot of young researchers and university students from Viet Nam. The Conclusion of the Session was held on November 6.

There were 15 participants in the meeting composed of eight project leaders and seven observers. The participants of the Project Leaders Meeting were the Project Leaders (PL) who are responsible for Public Information on Nuclear Energy from each of the eight member countries namely, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The seven observers who also participated in the meeting were from Korea (1), Japan (5) and Viet Nam (1).

A list of the participants is attached to these Minutes.

Themes and contents of the country reports for the Project Leaders Meeting were as follows:

1.

Current Status on Nuclear PI
Previous and Current Planned Activities and Efforts made to Promote Nuclear PI in each country

2.

Results and Analysis of the "Joint Survey of Understanding and Interest in Radiation among High School Students in FNCA Countries".

3.

Nuclear Energy PI Strategy

4.

Others

The highlights of the seminars were the following:

a.

Seminar onfor "Public Information Strategies Developing Nuclear Power"
One speaker each from Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia made presentations on how to improve Public Information on nuclear energy. Dr. Sueo Machi, FNCA Coordinator also delivered a talk on Roles on Nuclear Power for Sustainable Development. Dr. Machi emphasized that Nuclear Energy is essential for every country to have sustainable development without environmental problems.

Ms. Junko Ogawa of The Japan Atomic Power Company from Japan presented "Topical Events of Communication for Nuclear Issues in Japan".

Mr. Shen Tian of CAEA from China made a presentation entitled "Practice on Construction of Public Information of Nuclear in China".

Mr. John-Keuk Chung of KAERI from Korea made a presentation entitled "Nuclear Power Program and Public Information".

Mr. Arianto Iskandar of BATAN from Indonesia made a presentation entitled "The Experience and Know-How of Indonesia in Planning to Introduce Nuclear Power".

On November 4 and 5, the Viet Nam Television interviewed Dr. Machi regarding FNCA activities and it broadcasted the Seminar. News about the seminar were also broadcasted by radio stations and were reported in newspapers.

b.

Seminar on "Application of Radiation Technology in Industry"
Dr. Machi made a presentation entitled "World Perspective of Radiation Processing Application". Dr. Tran Khac An of Director of Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology in Viet Nam presented "Current Status and Future Trend of Radiation Processing Application in Viet Nam". Mr. Mohd Rosli Muda of MINT from Malaysia made a presentation entitled "Successful Development of Radiation Processing Application in Malaysia".

Quite passionate and useful opinions were exchanged between the participants and speakers. More than 15 questions were asked by the participants. Some PI Project Leaders joined the discussion.

Due to the lively discussions, the scheduled time for the seminar to be finished was extended for about one hour.

At the Project Leaders Meeting, proposals and future plans for PI activities were discussed. The main points agreed upon include the following:

1.

Linkage between FNCA PI project activities and womens groups is an important and effective strategy to gain better understanding and support from the public. An idea was proposed that FNCA should organize some PI programs in conjunction with WINs activities such as the WIN Asian Conference and the World Conference scheduled for May 2004 in Japan.

2.

Communications with the Mass Media personnel is essential for PI.
It is important to improve communication with the mass media personnel. Mass media personnel who are in charge of scientific articles should be targeted rather than those who are in charge of social articles. There should be careful and proper preparation when we communicating with media personnel for them to have a better understanding of nuclear energy and related topics. For enhanced communications with the mass media, it is better for nuclear communicators to have opportunities for exchanging opinions with the mass media personnel in each of FNCA member country rather than internationally. It is rather difficult to exchange views in the international arena as language barriers exist. FNCA Regional Speakers Bureau is the appropriate strategy for this purpose.

3.

Training of Nuclear Communicators is very important.
There is an urgent need for training of nuclear communicators so they can more effectively disseminate nuclear information to the public.

4.

An idea to get more people to participate in PI Events
To attract more participants to PI events, it is proposed that the event program be organized into two sessions: the first session to entertain the public with interesting and familiar topics such as cooking and the second one is to provide them with nuclear and energy Information. Japan has the know-how and experience for programming such events so the Regional Speakers' Bureau in Japan could contribute to the events.

5.

Future joint survey programs
For future joint survey programs, the following are recommended:

1.

Nuclear power should be the subject surveyed

2.

Respondents should be housewives

3.

Questions and answers through the phone is available and useful if the budget is provided.

4.

Questions should be simple and easy to understan

5.

Survey should be planned and implemented by project leaders on public information with good cooperation.

6.

The survey should be conducted in 2005, if possible.

6.

Enhancing FNCA Web-Site
It is necessary to improve FNCA Website so that information is exchanged both ways in FNCA countries, not one way from Japan. Updating of information in the Web-Site is highly needed, as well. As for the way to exchange information, E-mail and FNCA Web-Site should be an alternative to a facsimile.

7.

Request to distribute more "Atoms In Japan"Japan was requested to provide more copies of "Atoms In Japan". Every country requested 30 copies instead of the 10 copies presently distributed to each of FNCA countries. Majority of the project leaders for Public Information regarded "Atoms In Japan" as an excellent tool in disseminating current topics/information related to nuclear energyD

8.

Action Plans for FY2004
The PI Project leaders discussed the following action plans for FY2004:

a.

Open lectures should be held at the 2004 project leaders meeting for PI on nuclear energy It was pointed out that open lectures or seminars are one of the important activities in the PI Project as they provide opportunities to promote/disseminate nuclear energy Information to the public as well as experts.

1.

From this point of view, it may be worthwhile to hold one or two open lectures or seminars during the next project leaders meeting for PI on nuclear energy in FY2004

2.

Areas appropriate for such open lectures may be "safety of radiation" and "radioisotopes used in people's daily life, such as in agriculture and medicine", or "energy and the environment."

b.

Project leaders for PI on nuclear energy should take a leading role to obtain better communication with the media personnel.

1.

Participants discussed how to achieve better communication with the media personnel. They emphasized that more effort should be made to improve the communications with them.

2.

A suggestion was made that a round-table meeting or a luncheon with journalists and/or media personnel offers an opportunity to achieve better communications

c.

Regional Speakers'Bureau See "2" and "4".

Remarks

Thailand offered to host the 2004 Project Leaders Meeting. All of the participants appreciated the offer and agreed on Thailand as the host for the Project Leaders Meeting in 2004.

The PI participants look forward to the participation of a project leader from Australia at the next project leaders meeting for PI on nuclear energy in 2004.

The participants at this FNCA 2003 Project Leaders Meeting expressed their appreciation to VAEC, MEXT, and JAIF for their efforts in organizing the meeting.

The minutes were agreed upon by all the participants at the meeting and shall be reported to Fifth FNCA Coordinators Meeting on March 3-5, 2004, in Tokyo, Japan.